Labour pledge card stresses economic record

Labour today issued a six-point pledge card dedicated solely to the economy, signalling the party's determination to keep financial stability at the forefront of the election campaign.

In a combative joint performance by the prime minister and the chancellor, Mr Blair challenged reporters to quiz the Conservatives over an alleged £15bn shortfall in their spending commitments.

Recycling a tactic from Labour's successful 1997 and 2001 campaigns, the party issued a pledge card featuring a picture of Mr Blair and Mr Brown together, promising:

· An inflation target of 2% and mortgages as low as possible· One million more homeowners by the end of the parliament· One million more people helped by the New Deal· 300,000 apprenticeships to be created· Minimum wage to rise to £5.35 per hour· Education spending to rise to £5,500-per-pupil by 2008.

Earlier, at a 7.20am press conference - the first of the three early morning party press conferences - several reporters took Mr Blair to task, pointing out that the independent Bank of England now sets interest rates, and the banks set mortgage rates.

Mr Blair retorted that the government sets the inflation target, as stated in the pledge card.

Mr Brown then took aim at the Conservatives' economic plans.

He said: "Mrs Thatcher's central claim to competence - the economy - was not even mentioned by Mr Howard in his opening statement of the Tory campaign."

Mr Brown continued: "Within a few days of a Conservative government, Oliver Letwin's first budget would begin to undo everything we have achieved since 1997."

Mr Brown said Tory measures would include: abolishing the New Deal; scrapping the Small Business Service; cutting the science and training budget; transferring £2bn from local schools to private schools; and transferring £1bn from local hospitals to private hospitals.

However, both Mr Brown and the PM refused to answer questions about future income tax or national insurance levels, telling reporters to wait for Labour's manifesto launch on Wednesday.

Grilled as to whether the party would repeat its tactic of 2001, pledging not to rise income tax but then putting 1p on national insurance, Mr Brown replied that none of the other parties were proposing to reverse that rise.

Mr Brown said the Tories would also cut frontline public services by £35bn and put the stability of the economy at risk through a "risky" tax cut policy.

Labour today suggested that the Tories have around £15bn worth of spending commitments not accounted for, from the cost of 40,000 extra police to extending residential drug rehabilitation places.

But Mr Howard, at the launch of his party's election manifesto, took issue with the figures - quoting in particular the possible cost of drug rehabilitation places.

He said: "Drugs are a real evil. We would increase the number of residential drug rehabilitation places tenfold, from 2,500 to 25,000. We have costed that at £480m, Labour are putting it at £1.2bn - without a word of explanation."

Mr Blair said the Tory manifesto was a "fraudulent prospectus". "The simple point is that you cannot, as a matter of economics, spend more, tax less and borrow less - all at the same time.

"How do they square this economic circle? It's an economic nonsense. The whole of the manifesto is based on faulty economics. It is a fraudulent prospectus."

Mr Brown continued: "In our first eight years we have created a British way to stability, employment and long-term investment."

As announced in last month's budget, Mr Brown went on, regulatory inspections would be cut by a third, with one million fewer inspections each year and the number of regulatory agencies reduced from 35 to nine.

Mr Blair repeated the Labour promise to allow a million people to buy their own homes, and stressed the government's record on unemployment. "Combining mortgage rates as low as possible with public investment in shared equity initiative for first-time buyers and key workers, Britain will have one million more homeowners by 2010.

"Unemployment is, today, half that of France and Germany and lower than the USA as we advance to full employment for the first time in our generation.

"In the next parliament, one million more men and women will be helped by the New Deal for jobs and skills as we both tighten up compulsion and widen opportunities for work."

Mr Blair and the chancellor then paid a joint visit to an Airbus plant in the North Wales safe Labour seat of Alyn and Deeside.

The factory makes the wings for Airbus's recently unveiled A380 Super Jumbo. It was opened by Mr Blair in July 2003, and employs 6,000 people, including 500 adult and teenage apprentices.

Mr Blair and Mr Brown were greeted at the plant by the first minister of Wales, Rhodri Morgan, but ignored questions from journalists about whether they were enjoying spending so much time together.